You’d think an accusation of child rape levelled at one of the most powerful men in the Western world would be front page news, and yet reports of a federal lawsuit filed against Donald Trump, which claims he and another man sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl, have hardly made a sound.

While the billionaire US presidential hopeful has denied any wrongdoing — his lawyers have described the reports as “categorically untrue, completely fabricated and politically motivated” — that doesn’t mean they aren’t potentially credible and it certainly doesn’t render them not newsworthy.

An anonymous “Jane Doe” alleges that Trump raped her in 1994 while she was being held as a sex slave in an apartment belonging to Jeffrey Epstein, a well-known American financier and convicted sex offender.

•••••

The woman claims Trump "initiated sexual contact" with her on four occasions while she was 13, according to her victim statement.

She described the fourth as a "savage sexual attack" after which he threatened that she and her family would be "physically harmed if not killed."

•••••

Arguably, it is very much in the public interest for news organisations to report that the man seeking to lead the free world is accused of having sex with an underage girl multiple times and, on one occasion, allegedly doing so violently and without her consent — even if the allegations are later proven not to be true.

The Huffington Post is one of the few places a balanced analysis of the case's viability can be found.

As legal analyst for NBC News Lisa Bloom writes: "If the Bill Cosby case has taught us anything, it is to not disregard rape cases against famous men."

"In covering a story, a media outlet is not finding guilt. It is simply reporting the news that a lawsuit has been filed against Mr. Trump, and ideally putting the complaint in context."